I like to discover things, and usually in the search you find out that there are certain reasons for everything - well, almost.
Searching my own personal childhood memories the term "murgatroyd" went back to that old HB cartoon classic: Snagglepuss...I had no idea what it meant, if anything as a child. (nor did I care) its just what ol Snaggpuss always said when he was in "hot water" situations.
From *Phrases & Sayings* revised edition by Nigel Rees (Bloomsbury
1995; p/b 0-7475-3114-5):
===begins=====
*heavens to Murgatroyd!* Catchphrase of a rather camp cartoon lion
called Snagglepuss, created by the Hannah-Barbera studios in the
1960s. He made his first appearance in /The Yogi Bear Show/, but his
catchphrase was apparently not original. An American correspondent
noted (1993): 'It was a favorite expression of a favorite uncle of
mine in the 1940s, and my wife also remembers it from her growing-up
years in the '40s.'
Snagglepuss also used to say *exit stage left* --- a self-imposed stage direction.
Then HB just took a catch-phrase of popular culture in the years gone by - Well and good...but why did folks in the 40's say this? What or Who is/a Murgatroyd?? We can go back further than the 1940's for this answer.
In the appendix of Paul Beale (ed.), A Concise Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
(From: A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English by Eric Partridge),
London 1989
you find under the entry "tiddlywinks" several slang expressions for winks and one of them is this:
"murgatroyd, n. A badly manufactured wink which is flat on both sides. Etymology unknown, but very probably Oxford Univ. T.S."
Beale writes about his list of various expressions for winks: "I was made
aware of their existence by a short article in the Sunday Times mag., 9.
Mar. 1980, and am very grateful to Mr C.W. Edwards, sometime Secretary of
the English Tiddlywinks Association, for this Glossary which he compiled
for me in 1980".
Apparently, Mr C.W. Edwards was not a fan of Snagglepuss.
Still, this doesnt explain the origin of the MEANING of Murgatroyd, in other words...WHY is a bad wink called a "Murgatroyd"? Did someone just make this up when playing with their tiddlys and it spread around? In a way I'd say yes, but I really believe this is just one instance of using "murgatroyd" as a term denoting misfortune or exasperation. I believe it was once commonly used to describe or embellish something or someone (but not in polite conversation) that was bad, defective, or Cursed.
Here's Why!
In 1887 Gilbert & Sullivan brought the operetta - Ruddigore or "The Witch's Curse" to the Savoy Theatre on January 22nd for the first time.
One of the characters, Sir Roderic Murgatroyd, a "Bad Baronet of Ruddigore" had a generational curse on him: His ancestor Sir Rupert was cursed by a witch to "do one crime, or more, once every day, for ever" or face an agonising death.
So, basically the word "murgatroyd" has everthing to do with a cursed existance, and unfortunate circumstances and situations. Now, its easy to see why Reuben Guberman the scriptwriter gave this moniker to the man who was turned into a hideous robot in the 8th Man episode: The Armored Man!
